If you watch HGTV, you know tiny houses are all the rage. If you’ve been following our page for the last 5 years, you know it started long before that! The trend is finally catching on!

NBC2 has learned a developer wants to build a tiny home community in Punta Gorda at the corner of Cooper Street and Airport Road.

While plans for the tiny town are made, local builder Jonathan Barkenquast is making his own small home.

“We’re going from our house to the size of our bedroom. So it’s a big change,” he said.

He’s building a two-bedroom tiny home after deciding he wanted to save some money on a mortgage.

“The biggest thing is being able to downsize and get rid of all the extras in your life that you might not use but once a year,” Barkenquast said.

He’s part of a fast-growing trend to build these small homes that are all different shapes and sizes.

Don Musili, president of Englewood Incubation Center, has used his 3D printers to come up with some models. He says tiny homes are the future of affordable housing in Southwest Florida.

“It could have a few bedrooms. A living area, a bathroom. Kitchen. Maybe a den area. Anywhere from 400- to 800-square-feet or larger,” Musili said.

In fact, he says technology may even let you literally print out your own house using a large 3D printer.

“You could go online, look at the software, build your design and be able to print it out,” Musili said.

There are no specific plans for the community in Punta Gorda, but as demand grows for these tiny homes, local governments will have some big decisions to make about the permits and zoning needed for them.